Restaurants commonly have one or more griddle surfaces that provide a flat, hot cooking surface for cooking food items. Often restaurants include both a flat griddle to cook foods such as eggs and pancakes and a grooved griddle to cook meats and other items where a charbroiled or grilled appearance is desirable. In addition to the aesthetic appeal associated with food cooked over a grooved griddle, the grooved griddle is preferable over a flat griddle when draining fat out of meat products while cooking the meat is desirable. When cooking meat products on a grooved griddle, the meat product rests on raised ridges of the griddle. As the meat product cooks, some of the fat therein drains from the meat and collects on the lower surfaces of the griddle that are positioned between the raised ridges on the griddle. Though traditional open flame grills also enable fat to drain from meat products while the meat is cooking, grooved griddles are sometimes preferred over traditional open flame grills because they are typically more energy efficient, the temperature of the cooking surface can be more easily controlled, and they are generally more conducive to inside cooking.
Cleaning tools have been developed to remove the buildup of grease and food particles on griddles and open flame grills. Exemplary tools are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,966,094 to Rigakos; U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,377 to Veltrop et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,646 to MacDonald; U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,887 to Hurst; U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,578 to Frantz et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,306 to Esterson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,372 to Noe et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,600 to Stojanovski et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,406 to Rood; U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,302 to Kolodziej et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,870 to Nakozato; U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,943 to Werthermer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,983 to Thielen; U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,863 to Gunjian; and U.S. Pat. No. D470,985 to Zemel. Known tools are not particularly well suited for cleaning grooved griddles of various geometric configurations.
Grooved griddles are difficult to clean with tools specifically designed to clean flat griddles or grills. Typically, such tools have problems cleaning the area between the ridges of the griddle. Known tools for cleaning specific types of grooved griddles are often less than fully effective because griddles are not uniform in size or geometric configuration. In addition, known tools often require the user to be positioned too close to the hot griddle surface. Moreover, the useful life and versatility of the entire tool is typically limited by the cleaning element of the tool. Accordingly, there is a need for improved cleaning devices that enable a user to clean a grooved griddle more efficiently and effectively.